Dog Days
by ElesaryAyres
Summary: Chloe and Derek's life together after the series ends. Same universe at Taming Tori. All rights to Kelley Armstrong.
1. Chapter 1

Chloe

January 14

11:44PM

"Chloe, Baby, wake up." Derek's voice cut through the thin veil of sleep that surrounded my mind. I glanced at the clock. 11:44, I had only been asleep a half-hour or so, but he looked horrible, sweat drenched and shaking.

I immediately yanked the covers aside and stood up, already dressed in jeans and a sweater. Derek paced by the door until I shoved my feet into my Ugg boots. Then he pulled me into his arms and jumped from my second story window so we wouldn't wake anyone up. I buried my face in his bare, fevered chest as we fell.

Without pausing he broke into a rhythmic sprint; we must have crossed miles, but his heart, so close to my ear, kept a steady beat even as his muscles rippled and twisted in his contorting frame.

I didn't lift my head until he began to slow and we reached the clearing he had prepared when we first arrived at the house. It was fitted with a sleeping bag, blankets and enough food to feed an army- or one very hungry werewolf.

Ignoring his writhing muscles, Derek carefully placed me on the sleeping bag and wrapped me in a blanket before ridding himself of his pants.

_Lauren would kill us if she knew I saw him naked, _I thought arbitrarily as I laid my palm against his sweat soaked, jumping flesh. In reality seeing Derek in the nude directly before and after his change was breathtaking and made me blush, but really had nothing to do at all with sex.

Somehow though, I didn't think Lauren (or Tori, for that matter) would see the difference.

Derek changed relatively quickly now, his body used to the transformation, he no longer needed me there to keep him sane, but more, I believed, because of how intimate it was and how much of a ritual it had become for us.

As often as I'd seen it, his transformation still made my pulse race and bile rise, not because it disgusted me, but because it caused him pain and that was never easy for me to watch.

Mere minutes after his body began jerking and convulsing uncontrollably, he lay still and trembling beneath my hand in his wolf form.

He shakily stretched his head around and licked my hand once. I grinned, recognizing his first sign that he wanted to play.

I tried to spring up suddenly and surprise him but, as per usual, I fell flat on my ass. I lay in the snow for a moment, my eyes tight shut and my cheeks feeling red enough to melt the surrounding snow into a puddle.

I heard Derek huff and felt his hot breath on my face and rolled over to hide my humiliation. He chuffed and his cold, wet nose found the back of my neck, underneath my jacket and covered by my hair.

"Derek!" I shrieked, trying to get to my feet with some semblance of grace.

He skittered backwards, tail wiggling above his head. "Time to play, huh?" I asked, crouching down, eyeing him warily as he crept back, his weight on his toes.

I lunged for him, but landed on my face, fingers inches away from his paw. "Cheater," I complained, rolling onto my back and forcing myself to relax, fingers tingling as he inched forward, taking the bait.

He jumped back an instant before I reached for him, causing my fingers to just barely graze his fur. I crowed with triumph, before turning and sprinting deeper into the woods, fleeing the wolf behind me, who didn't like being tricked as much as he did chasing me.

We played until shivers began to race down Derek's spine again. I returned to petting him as he whined and clawed the ground as the agonizing change began again. This time it didn't seem to take so long as it used to and I was grateful. I hated to see Derek in pain and I knew he was going to have to change at least once a month and that he needed his wolf form to feel whole.

I was also selfish enough to be glad that he could change quickly if the Edison Group ever found us again.

I averted my eyes as the change rendered him back to a naked human. I blinked tiredly as he came back over to me, sweaty and shirtless. "Sleep, Chloe," he rumbled as he lifted me up in his arms.

I drifted on the run home, soothed by the beat of Derek's heart and the rhythmic pounding of his feet on the moss. I drowsily noticed him opening the door of my room and him gently wrapping me in my blankets. I definitely noticed him pressing his lips to my forehead.

"Goodnight, Chloe." He said softly, creeping toward the door.

"Night, Derek." I yawned, enjoying the rare smile that traced its way across his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Derek

Sunday, January 12

5:11 PM

_Three cups of chicken broth_, I reminded myself for the umpteenth time as I poured the liquid into the pot that already contained vegetables. I had made this soup more times than I could count, but never with such a riveted audience.

Derek sat at the table a few feet away, his emerald eyes fixated on my back. They never wandered or clouded over. It was as if I was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen in his life.

It was distracting, to say the least.

I gathered up sliced chicken breast and turned tossing them to him with a smile. He caught them with a quick snap of his fingers and tossed them in his mouth. His eyes didn't move. That having failed, I searched my mind for a new distraction.

He didn't give me one. His eyes caught mine and he slowly stood up and stalked over to me, backing me up until my butt met the counter and his arms pinned me in. "D-Derek?" I stuttered, flushing as his fingers crept towards my ass. With one quick move he lifted me so I was sitting on the counter with him between my legs.

"You aren't busy, are you?" he teased, turning off the stove.

"I guess not," I replied shakily.

He grinned and leaned down to capture my lips with his own.

"That's disgusting," Tori's voice barely registered through my Derek- induced fog. If Derek hear her at all his only reaction was kissing me deeper. "No, seriously," had Tori's voice moved closer? "You are right above the food." The sink turned on. "I will spray you," she warned.

Derek finally turned to her with a growl, pulling his lips from my own. "What do you want?"

"I _want_ food that won't give me mono." Tori snapped. "So you two take a walk and do whatever it is that you two do and let me make contagion free food." Damien had, as always, shadowed her into the room, and leaned against the wall, face unreadable, eyes on Tori.

Derek glanced at the food, and then at me and then he shrugged. "Okay," he said gruffly, reaching around his back to make sure that my feet were firmly fastened around his waist.

When he saw that they were, he stood up and carried me out of the room. I peered around his head to wave at Tori, who winked at me before she turned to the food in disgust.

"Lets take a walk." I suggested, and Derek headed for the front door, snagging warm jackets on is way.

The door slammed behind us, startling a few birds from their nests, as I pulled on my coat as best I could. "I said walk, Derek." I gently prodded his back, reminding him to let me down.

"I am walking," was his only gruff reply.

"I'm not!" I pointed out with exasperation as we approached the tree line.

He waited to reply until we could no longer see the house. "Waste of time." He said, adjusting me so my back was flat against a thick tree.

Oh. I liked this side of Derek.

His lips met mine then, and I completely forgot that walk was sometimes something other than a clever excuse for _this._

His knee slid between my thighs, supporting me so his hands could wander, one hooking around my leg to pull me closer to his body and the other clutching the back of my neck, deepening the kiss. My hands tangled in his hair.

Suddenly he tensed, "Someone's coming," he muttered against my lips as he reluctantly let me slip down his body until my feet reached the ground.

I sighed and finished adjusting my clothing just as Simon came into view. "Hey, guys!" he said, pretending not to notice what we had been doing. "Tori says its time for dinner."

For a while, after our failed date, Derek and I had tried to be subtle and respectful about our burgeoning relationship around him, but now that he seemed to be head over heals for the new girl, Charlotte, we felt less bad about being together around Simon.

So we followed him back to the house hand in hand.

To all of our surprise, we had found that Tori could cook. The house was filled with an enticing aroma, it seemed that she had changed my simple chicken soup to a more sophisticated roasted chicken.

Either way, my mouth watered.

We all ate together around the kitchen table, Tori, Simon and Kit leading most of the conversation about tests next week and having to go into town to get art supplies or clothes. "I shall purchase your garments." Damien cut it arrogantly when Tori expressed her desire to go shopping.

Her eyes flashed with annoyance, until her acquisitiveness caught up to her. "Ok," she replied with a shrug.

"Absolutely not!" Kit snapped.

And then I stopped paying attention, because Derek had placed his hand just above my knee under the table.

He had taken an entire chicken for himself and all that was left on his plate was a pile of bones and a few smears of the broth. "Are you finished?" he rumbled, "You still need to do that algebra homework."

I made a face, but grabbed my plate and followed him to the sink to wash it. "I hate math." I muttered, but he heard me and shot me a stern glance.

"Only because you never pay attention."

Before long the others joined us in the living room to work on homework. Tori slumped down on the couch next to us, laptop in her lap to write a history paper she had blown off. Damien, as always, was close behind, breathing down her neck, reading over her shoulder.

It was incredible to me that Tori allowed it, although Damien was persistent and oozed dominance, much like Derek. I supposed even the strongest personalities must give up eventually, but even so, I was starting to think that she liked it.

"That's wrong," he said, jerking his head toward something she had written. I had long since begun tuning Derek out, who was rambling on about the beauty of trigonometry. I much preferred to listen to Tori and Damien squabble.

"It is not!" she protested loudly, tossing her short black hair. "See? Its right here in my notes!" she shoved a notebook under his nose.

"Doesn't make it true." He replied deadpan.

"Yes, it does, you douche!"

"I was there."

"Liar!" she chucked a book at him, which he ducked. The book continued to fly until it hit Simon in the face as he turned the corner with Charlotte.

"See what you've done now?" Tori growled at Damien.

I snorted softly.

"Chloe, are you even paying attention?" Derek said, irritation leaking into his voice.

"Y-ye-yes?" I stuttered, eyes wide and innocent.

"Pay attention!" he turned back to the book, "If you solve for the X value before you find the tangent…" I didn't hear the rest; instead I was dissecting the room, figuring out the blocking as if this were a movie set. There were Simon and Charlotte, heads bent together over biology (how… fitting). On the other side we had Tori, who was biting her lip and staring at Damien, (I would place them at opposite sides of the couch to fix the spacing). And Derek would be at the center, what lights would I need to truly highlight his eyes? He would be-

His lips settled over mine, immediately dragging me back to the present. "If you aren't going to pay attention," he said, his green eyes steady on my face.

I blinked and looked around. The room was empty, the lights were low. "Where are the others?"

Derek looked at me strangely, "They said goodnight a while ago, Chloe." I looked at the clock in disbelief. "How is it already eleven? That clock must be wrong!"

Derek looked concerned, "Are you feeling alright?"

I forced a smile and pulled out of his arms to walk to the cabinet under the TV. "Of course I am." I said, "Which one?" I held up his two favorite DVD's.

He eyed me for a moment, deciding if he was going to let me get away with lying to him. "That one," he jerked his head to my left hand.

I put the movie on and returned to the couch to curl back into his arms as the beginning credits rolled.

Half way through the movie I glanced at Derek to gauge his reaction to my favorite part and found him sleeping. I smiled and snuggled deeper into his chest. He huffed and pulled me closer as I closed me eyes.


End file.
